Murder of a Royal Pain

“I think they were wrong.”

“Really? Why?”

He sure didn’t seem upset by her questions or the idea that his wife might have been a murder victim. Skye decided to try to shake him up. “It just seems too convenient. She was going to divorce you and take half your assets. You couldn’t let that happen. And as a dentist, you knew all about how to trigger a fatal asthma attack.”

Dylan threw back his head and laughed. “You’ve been listening to the gossips, haven’t you?”

“I saw your infidelity with my own eyes.”

“Annette knew all about my affairs, and she didn’t give a damn. All she cared about was my money and being Mrs. Dr. Paine. I found out early in our marriage that she never loved me. She was happy that I got my itch scratched elsewhere and didn’t bother her.” For a second his expression saddened. “She would never have divorced me. In a weird way, we were made for each other.”

“I see.” Skye wasn’t sure why, but she sensed he was telling the truth. “Still, a car that looked a lot like yours almost ran me down last Sunday after church.”

“I went to the Feed Bag as soon as Mass ended.” The lights flashed indicating that the haunted house would be opening in five minutes, and Dylan jumped off the operating table. “I heard it was fifteen or twenty minutes later that you were nearly hit.” He stuck his video game in his pocket. “Feel free to check out my alibi with Nina and Burt Miles. They had breakfast with me.”

“Thanks, I will,” Skye muttered as she walked away.

After checking with Anthony, who was staying at the American Legion hall for the rest of the evening to keep an eye on the event, Skye hurried to her spot and got ready to scare the patrons.

Saturday’s A Ghoul’s Night Out went as smoothly as Friday’s had, and when the haunted house closed for the night, Skye drove to Wally’s place. He met her at the door and handed her a glass of wine.

Wally had redecorated a year ago, replacing the shag carpeting with hardwood floors. The walls were now painted a deep taupe, and a mushroom, cream, and rust–colored area rug occupied the center of the room. Arts and Crafts–style bookcases and tables took the place of the fake Early American ones that Skye had hated when she first saw his living room.

After they settled on the new cream leather sofa, Skye filled Wally in on her chat with Dylan Paine, concluding with, “I believe him about his and Annette’s relationship, and I don’t think he was involved in his wife’s death. I checked with Nina during one of my breaks, and she confirmed that Dr. Paine was with her and her husband at the restaurant at the time that the car nearly ran me down.”

“And, considering Gloria’s death last night, I believe Quirk.” Wally peeled the wrapper off his beer bottle. “I talked with him today, and he denies any involvement in Annette Paine’s death. He swears he just loses his temper whenever he sees Hope, but would never really hurt her. He was afraid you’d think less of him if you found out about his brother, which is why he didn’t want you on the case.”

“What did Zinnia Idell have to say?” Skye asked. “It would have been easy for her to sneak into my office and poison the cookies. She’s been around the school a lot the past month.”

“Well . . .” Wally’s brow furrowed. “She does hate you, and she admits she’s hired an attorney to sue you and the school district, but my impression is that if she wanted you dead, she would have shot you, not messed around with ropes and poison.”

“Great.” Skye’s heart skipped a beat. She was more afraid of lawsuits than she was of a murderer. “Did you get any prints from the Oreo package?”

“There were three sets of prints on it. We were able to manually match yours and Gloria’s, since we had yours on file and could fingerprint the body, but the unknown set will have to be put through AFIS as soon as the PD’s computers are up and running again.” Wally anticipated Skye’s next question. “And no, Zinnia Idell’s prints didn’t match the unknown set.”

Skye sighed. “What happened to the computers?”

“McCabe somehow managed to screw up the system.”

“Anything on the tox screen results yet?”

Wally shook his head. “Reid said not until Monday at the earliest, remember?”

“So if someone is trying to kill me, he has the rest of the weekend to do it.”

Wally wrapped her in his arms. “Guess you’ll have to stay close so I can protect you.”

“Hmmm.” Skye drew his face to hers. “If I do, will you show me your pistol?”

“I think that can be arranged.” He claimed her lips, crushing her to him.

Wally’s kiss sent her senses into a wild swirl, and she forgot about everything in the world except him.

Skye and Wally slept late; then, while she attended noon Mass, Wally went in to the PD. After church, since there was no one else Skye needed to question regarding the murder investigation—having decided to wait until she could chat with Elvira at school, where she wouldn’t have to pay a Wal-Mart fee—Skye went home.

Once she’d changed into sweatpants and a T-shirt, she checked her answering machine and found two messages.

The first one was from Homer. “Some jerk started a rumor that school is going to be closed on Monday because of Gloria’s dying in your office, but it isn’t, so you’d better be there.” There was a pause; then he said, “Hey, I told those county crime scene guys not to bother returning your chair when they finish with it. I figured you wouldn’t want it, since Gloria was sitting in it when she kicked the bucket. You can order a new one tomorrow.”

Skye grinned. Just when she thought there was no hope for him, Homer did something nice.

The other message was from Loretta. Skye tried to think of a reason not to, but finally forced herself to return her sorority sister’s call. As she waited for Loretta to answer, she prayed her friend wouldn’t ask her to take sides. No matter what Vince’s faults were, he was still her brother, and she could never turn her back on him.

“Hello.” Loretta’s voice was lifeless.

“Hi. It’s Skye.”

“I wondered if you would call or not. Are you mad at me?”

“Of course not. There’s just been a lot happening around here, and Wally was out of town for most of it, which made everything worse.” Skye finished telling Loretta about the two murders, then said, “So, that’s what’s been going on with me. How about you?”

“Let’s put it this way. Being the possible target of a deranged killer would be the high point of my week.” There was a hysterical giggle, then a sob. “I think I made the biggest mistake of my life.”

“Breaking up with Vince?”

“Yes. I never should have done it. I’m so miserable.”

“Why exactly did you break up with him?” Skye was confused. “Vince said you told him you two have different goals and dreams. Is that what you said?”

“Yes.” Loretta hiccuped. “But that wasn’t the real reason.”

“What was?”

“I knew he wasn’t the settling-down type, and time is running out. I want to have children while my parents are still young enough to take care of them.”

Skye giggled. Even when Loretta was upset, her dry humor was a hoot. “But you didn’t tell him that?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t want to sound needy.” Loretta’s tone was stubborn. “Besides, I said we had different goals and dreams. He should have known I meant I wanted to get serious and he didn’t.”

Skye blew out an exasperated breath. “What he thought you meant was that you’re an important attorney and he’s a hairdresser. He figures your family is rich and powerful and ours is poor, and the only place we have any influence is in a town of three thousand people.”

“I hope you told him that was stupid.” Loretta was starting to sound like her old, confident self. “Do you think Vince could get serious? Settle down?”

“I think that’s something you two should discuss.”

“But he probably hates me now.”